A Maryland quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership interest the grantor holds in a parcel to the grantee, with no promise that the title is clean. To make one effective, you draft the deed with Maryland’s required granting language and legal description, sign it before a notary, attach a preparation certification and a completed State Land Instrument Intake Sheet, then record the package with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits and pay the applicable recording fee, recordation tax, and transfer tax.
Because the form carries no title warranty, it fits family transfers, adding or removing a spouse, and moves into a living trust far better than arm’s-length sales.
What to Gather Before You Draft
Maryland law requires every deed to name the grantor and grantee, describe the property with enough detail to identify it, and state the interest being transferred.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Real Property Code Section 4-101 – What Deeds Are Sufficient Before you start filling in a template, pull together:
- Full legal names and mailing addresses for the grantor and grantee, matching the existing deed records exactly.
- The legal property description from the current recorded deed. Copy it verbatim; metes and bounds, lot and block, or subdivision plat language has to carry over without paraphrase, because a minor discrepancy can delay recording or seed a title defect.
- The Map, Grid, Parcel, District, and Account Number assigned by the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation. These sit on your property tax bill or in SDAT’s free database at sdat.dat.maryland.gov, and the intake sheet will ask for them.
- The consideration. Maryland deeds have to state the purchase price, and a gift or no-payment transfer has to say explicitly that there is no consideration.2The Maryland People’s Law Library. Steps for Recording a Maryland Real Estate Deed
Maryland’s Department of Land Records does not supply deed forms. Templates come from legal document services, law libraries, and online repositories; verify that any template includes the Maryland-specific pieces below before using it.3The Maryland People’s Law Library. Frequently Asked Questions – Deeds
Drafting the Deed
Granting Language
A quitclaim deed uses non-warranty granting language, typically “remise, release, and quitclaim,” which signals that the grantor is passing along only whatever interest they actually have.3The Maryland People’s Law Library. Frequently Asked Questions – Deeds
How Co-Grantees Will Hold Title
If the deed names more than one grantee, say how they take title. Maryland presumes tenancy in common, meaning each owner holds a separate share with no survivorship rights. To create a joint tenancy with right of survivorship, where the surviving co-owner automatically takes the other’s share, the deed must say “as joint tenants with rights of survivorship” in those words. Maryland courts presume against joint tenancy, so vague wording defaults back to tenancy in common.
Consideration and Property Description
State the consideration in the body of the deed. For a zero-dollar family transfer, “for the sum of zero dollars and other good and valuable consideration” is standard phrasing. Then paste in the full legal property description from the most recently recorded deed, exactly as written.
Preparation Certification
Maryland will not record a deed unless it identifies who prepared it. Under Real Property § 3-104, the deed must carry either a Maryland-barred attorney’s certification that the instrument was prepared by or under the attorney’s supervision, or a certification by one of the parties named in the deed that the party prepared it.4Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Real Property 3-104 – Preparation of Deeds The statement sits at the end of the document. If you draft the deed yourself, you sign the certification as a party to the transaction. Missing or incomplete preparation certifications are a common reason clerks reject deeds at the recording window.
Notarization
A Maryland deed must be acknowledged to be valid and recordable.1Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Real Property Code Section 4-101 – What Deeds Are Sufficient The grantor signs in front of a notary, who verifies identification and attaches a formal acknowledgment with seal and commission expiration date. Only the grantor’s signature needs to be notarized; the grantee does not sign. A deed without proper notarization gets turned away at the counter.
The Land Instrument Intake Sheet
Every deed presented for recording has to be accompanied by a completed State of Maryland Land Instrument Intake Sheet (Form AOC-CC-300), as required by Real Property § 3-104(g).5Maryland Courts. Instructions for the State of Maryland Land Instrument Intake Sheet The form is on the Maryland Judiciary website or at the circuit court clerk’s office. It summarizes grantor and grantee names, property location, tax account numbers, consideration, and any claimed tax exemption so the clerk and SDAT can process the transfer.
Fill in the names exactly as they appear on the deed. The sheet also asks whether the property will serve as the grantee’s principal residence, which affects the transfer tax rate. Submit the intake sheet together with the original signed deed and a photocopy for SDAT.6Maryland Courts. State of Maryland Land Instrument Intake Sheet
Recording Fees and Taxes
You record at the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property is located. Costs come in three layers.
Recording Fees
The base recording fee turns on page count and varies somewhat by county. A typical quitclaim deed of nine pages or fewer costs $20 to record, plus a $40 recording surcharge most counties apply, bringing the total to roughly $60. Longer instruments and those outside the principal-residence category can cost more. Confirm the current figure with your county clerk, since some jurisdictions add local fees.
Recordation Tax
Maryland counties set their own recordation tax rates as a dollar amount per $1,000 of consideration. Across the 23 counties and Baltimore City, rates run from about $5 per $1,000 to $14 per $1,000. A zero-consideration gift owes no recordation tax on the deed itself, but if the grantee assumes a mortgage, the tax applies to the outstanding loan balance.
Transfer Tax
The state transfer tax is 0.5% of the consideration. First-time Maryland homebuyers purchasing a principal residence pay a reduced 0.25%. Most counties add their own local transfer tax, ranging from 0% in several counties up to 2.1% in Baltimore City on transactions above $1 million. Zero-consideration transfers generally owe no transfer tax.
Family-Transfer Exemptions
Many quitclaim transfers qualify for partial or full tax exemptions. Transfers between spouses, former spouses, domestic partners, or former domestic partners are fully exempt from recordation tax.7Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Tax – Property Code 12-108 A broader family exemption covering parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, in-laws, and stepfamily members waives the recordation tax on the principal amount of any assumed mortgage debt. Corresponding transfer-tax exemptions sit in Tax-Property § 13-207.8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Tax – Property Code Section 13-207 – Exemptions From Transfer Tax Claim an exemption by noting the applicable statutory code on the intake sheet. The clerk will not apply it automatically.
After the Clerk Accepts the Deed
Once the package clears and fees are paid, the deed is stamped with the book and page (liber and folio) where it is archived in the land records. The clerk sends a copy to SDAT, which updates the ownership record for future tax billing. The original recorded deed is mailed back to the grantee, though turnaround times vary by county. Keep that copy; you will need it to refinance, sell, or prove ownership.
What a Quitclaim Does Not Do to a Mortgage
A quitclaim deed moves ownership interest only. It does not remove the grantor from any existing mortgage. If the grantor signed the mortgage note, they remain personally liable for the debt after signing the property over. The only ways to release that liability are for the grantee to refinance in their own name or for the lender to agree to a formal assumption or release.
Most residential mortgages also contain a due-on-sale clause letting the lender demand full repayment when the property is transferred. Federal law shields several common quitclaim scenarios from triggering that clause. Under the Garn-St. Germain Act, a lender cannot accelerate a loan on a residential property of fewer than five units when the transfer involves:
- A spouse or child becoming an owner of the property
- A divorce or separation decree awarding the property to a spouse
- A transfer into a living trust where the borrower stays a beneficiary and continues living in the home
- A transfer to a relative on the borrower’s death
- Death of a joint tenant where ownership passes by operation of law
These carve-outs cover most family quitclaim transfers.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 U.S. Code 1701j-3 – Preemption of Due-on-Sale Prohibitions If your situation does not fit one, such as a transfer to an unrelated person while a mortgage is outstanding, call the lender before you record.
Gift-Tax and Basis Consequences
When a quitclaim transfer is a gift, the grantee takes the grantor’s original cost basis rather than a reset to current market value. That carryover basis can create a much larger taxable capital gain on a future sale. If the grantor bought the house for $100,000 and it is worth $400,000 at transfer, the grantee’s basis stays at $100,000, so up to $300,000 of gain could be taxable later. Property inherited at death generally receives a stepped-up basis to fair market value, which can erase that embedded gain.
If the grantee lives in the property as a primary residence for at least two of the five years before selling, the standard home-sale exclusion can shelter up to $250,000 in gains, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly. If the grantee pays money or assumes a mortgage, the IRS may treat the transfer as a sale, which can trigger an immediate capital gains obligation for the grantor.
A no-consideration transfer is a gift for federal tax purposes. For 2026, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient.10Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances 1 If the property’s fair market value exceeds that figure, the grantor files IRS Form 709 (United States Gift and Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return). Filing Form 709 does not mean the grantor owes gift tax; it reports the gift and draws down the grantor’s lifetime exclusion, which for 2026 is $15,000,000.11Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax Most grantors will never owe actual gift tax, but skipping the Form 709 when one is required creates problems later.